Welcome to week 2 at Camp Warner Brothers! If you tuned in last week, you got to see Red and Scarlet create their own Superheroes for “Superhero Training” with the one and only Batman. This week, we had some science fun with edibles, color mixing, a bit of patience, and making a sweet treat with a Crystal Gem Candy recipe for our screening of WB’s Steven Universe: The Movie camp viewing party!
Check out what we made! While it was our first time making “rock candy,” or as we called it, Crystal Gems, we had one jar behave really well and the other grow out of control! The purple gems grew fairly quickly on to our “primed” rope. After tying a length of string to a pencil (at the halfway point) and a paper clip to the other end (to weigh it down), we wet it lightly and rolled it in sugar to jump-start our crystal growing process.
The red crystal gem candy rope was also lightly jumpstarted, but the crystals decided they wanted to grow in the jar instead!! But no matter how they grew, the crystal gems were tasty and very sweet.
Crystal Gem Candy Recipe
Our recipe is courtesy of Warner Brothers, as they created it to help me (The Camp Director) show the kids some edible science. Follow the directions carefully so that your crystals have the best chance of growing. And no matter what, try not to peek at your string for about 24 hours after placing the jars in a dark spot.
Here’s our process from start to finish, with the kiddos having a main hand in cooking the sugar, but leaving the pouring of the bubbling hot sugar to me!
Crystal Gem Candy Video
The Science Behind The Fun:
As time passes (and the solution cools), the water will slowly evaporate from the solution. As the water evaporates, the solution will become more saturated with sugar. The sugar molecules will collect on the string, and the candy crystals will grow molecule by molecule!
Extra Science Fun:
Try making two jars of candy. In the first jar – seed your “Crystal Gem” Candy by rolling your string in water and sugar. In the second jar do not seed your string with sugar before growing. Determine if using seed sugar crystals changes the growth rate of your “Crystal Gem” Candy!
About Steven Universe: The Movie:
After so many harrowing adventures, Steven and the Gems are ready to celebrate how far they’ve come with a movie musical! Little do they know they’re about to face their worst enemy yet. The kiddos loved the life lessons shared by not only Steven but the gems and villains in this story. When my campers learned about being able to EAT the gems, they were much more excited about both science and fictional adventures.
Steven Universe: The Movie is now available to own on Digital, Blu-ray & DVD! Make some Crystal Gem Candy with your campers and snack on Gem-inspired treats while you screen Steven Universe: The Movie!
This would be fun to make.